Electric-railway switch.



Patented Nov. 26, 190i.

W. S. BRDWNE.

ELECTRlG RAILWAY SWITCH.

(Application filed June 2, @898.) (No Model.)

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- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALRAM S. BROWNE, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

ELECTRIC-RAILWAY SWITCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 687,475, dated November 26, 1901.

Application filed Tune 2, 1898. Serial No. 682,815. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALRAM S. BROWNE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the city and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Electric-Railway Switches,of which the following is a speei is augmented by the liability of forming an opposite pole in some other part of the switch.

In my present invention electromagnets whose pole-pieces are separate and distinct from and not a part of the switch piece or cast ing are applied at opposite sides of a switchpoint. One or more magnets may be used on each side of the tongue; but the magnets on one side are separate and distinct from those on the other side, and the poles of the mag nets are brought up adjacent to the opposite sides of such switch-tongue, and the poles on one side may be directly opposite those on the other or more or less distant, and these poles are insulated from the tongue, the bedplate, and the tread and guard rails, so that the magnetic energy'is concentrated in the pole-pieces of the electromagnets.

In Letters Patent No. 593,389, granted to me November 9, 1897, a circuit arrangement is represented for directing the current from the trolley-wire to the electromagnets that move the switch. In some instances there is a risk of the switch turning or becoming displaced after it has been moved by the action of the magnets. I combine with the electro magnets that move the switch and the circuit connections passing to the same an electric lock which directs the current through the particular magnet that has been energized for moving the switch, soas to hold the switch thereby during the time'that the'car is passing over such switch.

In the drawings, Figure l is a plan View representing the switch and the electromagnets for moving the same and a diagram of the electric-circuit connections. vation, and Fig. 3 is a cross-section at the line 3 of Fig. 2.

The rails of the main track are indicated at A, and the rails of the turnout or branch track are illustrated at B, and the circuit connections at the trolley and at the track are substantially similar to those illustrated in my aforesaid patent and will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

The switch place or base A is advantage ously made as a deep central rail or box 4, with a bottom flanged and with the rail or tread 6 and guard-rail 8 upon the upper edges thereof and with the diverging-guard 9 and Fig. 2 is an elerail 7 adjacent to the pivot 10 of the switch- A tongue 0, and the switch-tongue is adapted to being swung from contact with the interior of the guard 8 to the interior of the tread 6 for directing the car upon the straight line or upon the turnout, and the bottom of this switch-tongue is supported upon the bedplate 16 of the switch.

The electromagnets D and E are of suitable size and properly Wound, and the current is to be directed, as hereinafter described, through the magnet E to set the switch for the branch or turnout B, and through the magnet D to set the switch for the main track A.

The poles 12, 13, la, and 15 of the electromagnets D and E pass loosely through mortises or openings in the rail and flange 8, in order that the poles may be insulated from the metal of the switch, and such mortises are made low enough in the side of the switch to allow the pole-pieces to be below the flanges of the wheels passing along the track, without touching the pole-pieces. The insulation is advantageously accomplished by strips of hard rubber or gutta-percha 17 between the pole-pieces and the steel or iron of the switch. Thus the magnetic energy is concentrated in the pole-pieces of the electromagnets, and according to which circuit is closed so one magnet or the other will be energized and the switch-tongue attracted either one way or the other way; and I remark that by locating the electromagnets nearly midway of the switchtongue the pole-pieces may be very near to the tongue though out of contact with it, and in whatever position the tongue may happen in giving motion to the switch-point.

shown two magnet-poles ateach side of theto be enough energy can be obtained in the electromagnets for easily moving the switchtongue toward the magnet. The faces of the laterally-extending pole-pieces should be out of contact withthe surface of the switchtongue, so that the parts will not stick, and the distance between the pole-pieces and the switch-tongue when such switch-tongue is distantfrom the pole-pieces is comparativelylittle, so that the magnetism acts efficiently I have tongue; but the number may be increased.

The electromagnets can be supported upon the switch-base A in any desired manner. I

have represented insulating material 18 between the magnets and the bottom flange 5 of the switch, and they can be inclosed to protect them from injury.

I have described my invention as applied to railway-switches used in paved city streets, in which the moving part is usually called the tongue; but my improvement can be used to advantage on the other forms of trackswitches with points or tongues.

It is usually advantageous to employ electromagnets with vertical cores and laterallyprojecting pole-pieces; but I do not limit my self in this particular. I

Usually llIG SWitL'h-tOH UG is sufficiently deep to form the armature to the electromagnets, but if too narrow the said tongue may be widened by a downward-projecting plate. The electric lock is located in whatever is the most convenient place. It may be upon one of the trolley-poles adjacent to the switch or it may be adjacent to the track, and it consists of two electromagnets F and G, each of which is preferably made with two cores and a keeper, as usual, and the poles face each other and have between them an armature H, and the helices of the electromagnets are wound with two wires, and the ends of these wires come double to the binding-posts 20 and 21, and one wire of the helix Gr extends to the binding-post 22, and another wire of the helix F extends to the binding-post 23, and there is a double switch-post of plates 24 and 25 and 26 and 27, insulated from each other in pairs, the plates 25 and 27 being connected together, and one end of one coil of the magnet G terminates at 24, and one end of one coil in the magnet F terminates at the plate 26, and a contact 40 upon the armature H swings between these switches, and the circuit connections are made and the electric lock operates in the manner next described.

In the diagram illustrated in Fig. l of the.

If now the car approaches the turnout in the direction of the arrowv and theunotorlnan turns off the current, so that the car runs by momentum, the current passes from Ii L by 30 and through the magnet G,-attracting the armature H and closing the circuit between 24 and 25, and the current after passing from 22 through the helix of G to 20 goes by the wire 32 to the electromagnet E, and thence to the rail, energizing the magnet E and drawing the switch-point toward the main-track guard-rail 8, so asto open the switch to the curved or branch track, and as the car progresses the circuit is closed between L which is an insulated plate, and the trolley-wire K and passes by the binding-post 28 and the circuit connections to'the plate 25 and by the contact 40 on the armature H and plate 24 through the magnet G-and wire 32 to the switch-magnet E, so as to retain the energy in such switch-magnet during the time that the-car is passing fully onto the switch, after which the circuits are broken.

As set forth in the aforesaid patent, when the current is not turned 0% at the car it simply passes momentarily from K through L and 30 and to E; but as soon as the trolleywheel separates from the plate L the current passing from the trolley through the motor on the car goes to the insulated rail S and from there by the wire 31 to the binding-post 23 and through the magnet F to the bindingpost 21 and from there by the wire 34 to the magnet D and tothe rail, and in so doing the switch-point is attracted and the car proceeds on the main track, and in passing through the helix F the armature l-I closes the circuit between 26 and 27, and as the trolley-wheel comes in contact with the insulated plate L the current passes through the same from the trolley-wire K and by'28 to 27 26 and by the circuit-coil through the magnet F to 21 and by the wire 34 to the magnet D, so as to not only hold the armature H by the magnet F, but also to lock the switch by the current passing through the magnet D. It will be observed that this magnet-lock acting in connection with the insulated plate L adjoining the trol switch in either one direction or the other by the current being maintained in either the magnet D or the' magnet E until the car has passed the switch,it being understood that the insulated contact-plate L adjacent to the trolley-00nd uctor K is sufficiently long to insure a continuance of the current to one magnet or the other until the last wheels of the car have passed by the switch-tongue either upon the 'main track or upon the turnout. If the car should be stopped upon the switch or should it be found that the switch-lock has by any external influence been moved into the wrong position, the conductor or motorman can turn the same by hand into the proper position, so as to direct the current to the proper magnet regardless of the position that the car may occupy upon the switch.

I claim as'my inventi0n- 1. The combination with the switch-point and the electromagnets for moving the same, of the circuit connections and an electromagnetic locking device brought into action by the pulsation of the current to one or the other of the switch-magnets, and an armature switch and connection to the trolley conductor, whereby a current is maintained to the electromagnet that has moved the switch for holding such switch until the car has passed, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination with the magnets D and E and the switch-point moved by the same, of the electromagnetic lock composed of magnets F and G and the armature-switch moved by the same, an insulated rail through which the current passes by the motor of the car to one of the magnets, an insulated plate adjacent to the trolley-conductor by which the current passes through the trolley-wheel to the other electromagnet, and an insulated plate adjacent to the trolley-conductor by which the current passes through the trolleywheel and the armature-switch of the looking mechanism to one or other of the electromagnets, for holding the switch-point in the position to which it has been moved for the passage of the car, substantially as set forth;

3. The combination with the switch-base and pivoted switch-point of an electromagnet having laterally-projecting pole'pieces, the switch-base being mortised for the passage of the pole-pieces and means for insulating the pole-pieces from the metal of the switch and for supporting the electromagnet with the ends of the pole-pieces near the side of the switch-point, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination with the switch-base and pivoted switch-point, of an electromagnet having laterally-projecting pole-pieces, the switch-base being mortised for the passage of the pole-pieces and means for insulating the pole-pieces from the metal of the switch, and for supporting the electromagnet with the ends of thepole-pieces near one side of the switch -point, and a second electromagnet with laterally-projecting pole-pieces passing through mortises in the switch -base, and means for insulating the pole-pieces from the metal of the switch-base and for supporting the electromagnet with the faces of the pole pieces near the opposite side of the movable switch-point, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination in a railway-frog, with a base-plate and wing-rails, a switch-point supported and moved on the base-plate, electromagnets, cores from the electromagnets extending through aperturesin the wing-rails upon opposite sides of the switch-point, and contact devices upon a moving car adapted to energize the magnets from the trolley-circuit, of an electromagnetic locking device brought into action by the pulsations of the current to one or the other of the switchsupported and moved on the base-plate, electromagnets, cores from the electromagnets extending through apertures in the wing-rails and insulated therefrom, upon opposite sides of the switch-point, and contact devices upon a moving car adapted to energize the magnets from the trolley-circuit, of an electromagnetic locking device brought into action by the pulsations of the current to one or the other of the switch-magnets, whereby the switchpoint is held until the car has passed, substantially as set forth.

8. The combination with the switch-base and pivoted switch-point, of an electromagnet having laterally-projecting pole-pieces, the switch-base adapted for the passage of the pole-pieces and means for supporting the eleotromagnet with the ends of the pole-pieces near one side of the switch-point, and a second electromagnet with laterally-projecting polepieces passing through mortises in the switchbase, and means for supporting the electromagnet with the faces of the pole-pieces near the opposite side of the removable switchpoint, substantially as set forth.

9. The combination of a railway-frog, comprising a base-plate and wing-rails, a switchpoint supported and moved on the base-plate, electromagnets,cores from the electromagnets extending through the apertures in the wingrails upon opposite sides of the switch-point, and contact devices upon a moving car adapted to energize the magnets from the trolleycircuit, substantially as described.

10. The combination of a railway-frog, comprising a base-plate and wing-rails, a switchpoint supported and moved on the base-plate, electromagnets,cores from the electromagnets extending through apertures in the wing rails and insulated. therefrom, upon opposite sides of the switch-point, and contact devices upon a moving car adapted to energize the magnets from the trolley-circuit, substantially as described.

Signed by me this 28th day of May, 1898.

WALBAM S. BROWNE.

WVitnesses:

GEO. T. PINCKNEY, S. T. HAVILAND. 

